The story behind the snaps, I snap then I chat, a glimpse beyond the filters.

Month: June 2017

After having my wisdom teeth taken out a couple of weeks ago, and thus being subjected to a diet or nothing but smoothies and cold mashed potatoes, it is only apt that my next Instagram posts were centred around home cooking. Following a week of pain and feeling physically weak, I decided to whip up my (now famous) brunch spread and a couple of batches of cookies, to satisfy my cravings.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love nothing more than going out for brunch in Paris, sitting on a terrace with my friends – the choice is so vast and no two brunch spots have the same offering. However, here lies in the issue. Having experienced so many delicious brunch offerings, I have concocted in my head the “ideal” brunch, borrowing brunch parts from the various places I have visited over the years. Yet, it doesn’t seem to exist in reality! I’ve been very close to finding this ideal, but then one ingredient or one detail doesn’t match up, such as fried eggs instead of my preferred poached eggs, and my ideal brunch again seems like a lost cause.

For this reason, I decided to cook up my very first homemade brunch spread a couple of weeks ago, pre-wisdom tooth surgery. After a few tweaks I seem to have achieved almost perfection (at least in my better half’s eyes).

I bought a couple of silicone egg poachers on Amazon and I strongly recommend this for anyone (like myself) who dreams of poached eggs, without the struggle of the traditional method. I cook for between 3 and a half to 4 minutes for the perfect runny yolk. I buy my bacon and baked beans from Marks & Spencers, as the versions sold in your everyday supermarket is probably the one thing the French can’t get right; seriously, try them at your own peril. I finish off my brunch with some oven chips and a ripe avocado spread over a toasted baguette slice. While my brunch selection may seem a bizarre combination to the naked eye, it is delicious! My homemade brunch brings together the best ingredients from a variety of breakfasts – the traditional English, continental French and a touch of the Instagram staple breakfasts.

Although I much prefer savoury food, I also have a sweet tooth, especially for cookies, as my boyfriend knows all too well. So, this Sunday we decided to have a go at our own, inventing our own recipe, taking inspiration from various other cookie recipes we’d found online. We didn’t have a pair of scales so went on sight and estimating alone, but despite this it was a pretty solid attempt! Here is what we did:

Begin by mixing together 100g of golden castor sugar with 100g of brown sugar and 100g of salted butter

Melt 100g of milk chocolate, pouring half of this into the mix, along with 1 egg, 200g plain flour and a tablespoon of vanilla extract. If the mix looks a bit dry, add a bit of water into the mix to have a gooey consistency

Break up a mix of dark chocolate and milk chocolate (150g total) into small chunks and add to the mix, along with a pinch of salt

Scoop balls of the cookie dough onto a baking tray and cook at 200C in a fan oven for between 8 minutes for a soft batch, or 12 minutes for a crunchy finish

Once the cookies are cool enough to lift, drizzle the remainder of the melted chocolate on top – my chocolate had hardened up a bit at this point, so it wasn’t exactly perfect but I’ll know for the next time

And finally, enjoy! I accidentally made one soft and one crunchy batch, but it was actually a good thing. My boyfriend preferred the harder cookies (he ate 3 on the trot) while I love a soft-centred cookie. So it was win, win!

What are your homemade cooking or baking comforts? I’m always looking for new recipes to try out!